A method comprising controllably and automatically producing on a commercial scale from fresh tea leaves a consistent supply of an optionally unsweetened or sweetened cold tea beverage with a superior quality taste, wherein said method further comprises:
- a. providing, within a controlled access cabinet means and in fluid communication, an automatically controllable water purification system, tea brewing system, sweetening system, and sanitizing system;
- b. controlling said water purification system to purify a supply of water from a selected water source to produce a supply of purified water;
- c. providing a supply of fresh tea leaves of desired tea varieties and controlling said tea brewing system to dispense a selected quantity of fresh tea leaves of a selected variety into one or more tea infuser brew baskets movable between tea leaf receiving and tea leaf dumping positions, to move a tea infuser brew basket with the fresh tea into alignment with a tea brewing means, and to direct purified water to flow through the tea brewing means to brew a high quality tea beverage, wherein brewed tea is directed to a tea reservoir to maintain the brewed tea in a cold condition;
- d. moving the tea infuser brew basket out of alignment with the tea brewing means and inverting the tea infuser brew basket to a tea leaf dumping position to dump used tea leaves, then returning the tea infuser brew basket to a tea leaf receiving position, wherein a selected quantity of fresh tea leaves is again dispensed into said tea brewing basket;
- e. providing a supply of a liquid sweetener and maintaining said supply of liquid sweetener in a cold condition;
- f. providing dispensing means fluidically connected to the tea brewing system tea reservoir and the sweetening system at a dispensing location remote from the cabinet means;
- controllably dispensing a desired quantity of cold brewed tea;
- and, optionally, simultaneously automatically and controllably dispensing a desired quantity of cold liquid sweetener to dispense a high quality cold sweetened or unsweetened tea beverage;
- g. at a selected programmed time interval, controlling the sanitizing system to automatically generate a supply of a sanitizing solution comprising ozonated water generated from said supply of purified water and direct the supply of sanitizing solution through the tea brewing system, the tea brewing system reservoir, the sweetening system and the dispensing means to sanitize them;
- and
- h. upon completion of sanitization, initiating operation of the water purification system, tea brewing system, sweetening system, and dispensing means to continue to produce and dispense cold unsweetened or sweetened tea with a superior taste.